A three-storey conservation shophouse located along Sago Street, in the heart of the Kreta Ayer Conservation Area, will appear at Knight Frank Singapore’s next property auction on March 27 with a guide price of $9.95 million.
The freehold property spans a land area of 1,063 sq ft and features a floor area of about 2,814 sq ft. This translates the guide price to $9,360 psf based on land area. The property also enjoys prominent street-level visibility along the pedestrianised Sago Street.
An owner’s sale, this is the first time that this property is up for auction. According to Sharon Lee, head of auctions at Knight Frank Singapore, the commercial property is fully tenanted. The ground floor is occupied by a Vietnamese restaurant while the upper two floors are used as offices.
The property currently generates about $22,300, or $7.92 psf per month, in rental income for the owners. However, the tenancy agreements are due to be renewed this year and Lee is confident that the property will be able to command higher prices upon renewal.
Over the last 12 months, the median commercial shophouse rents along Sago Street is $13.43 psf per month, according to URA records. This is higher than the median rents for shophouses in other nearby streets such as the adjacent Smith Street ($10.12 psf per month) and Temple Street ($4.88 psf per month).
One reason for this could be Sago Street’s location directly facing Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum, a popular tourist attraction that provides heavy footfall to the area. The shophouse is also located within 200m of Chinatown Complex Market, Chinatown Visitor Centre, Maxwell Road Food Centre and the entrance to Maxwell MRT Station along the Thomson-East Coast Line.
“The shophouse may appeal to both end-users and investors as it is selling below its valuated price,” says Lee. She explains that the owners are looking to recycle capital gains from the sale into another property.
URA caveats show that the last shophouse to change hands in the Kreta Ayer Conservation Area was a 1,310 sq ft conservation shophouse along Pagoda Street that fetched $19 million, or a land rate of 14,504 psf, in March 2024. The same month, a 1,202 sq ft shophouse along Mosque Street was sold for $15.93 million ($13,249 psf).
The sale is open to locals and foreigners, with no additional buyer’s stamp duty or seller’s stamp duty imposed.
